"We want to encourage people to participate in the exchange, not discourage enrollment and increase confusion about when 2013 policies need to be phased out," Johnston said Tuesday afternoon. "A short extension at this late date only muddles the process."

Blue Shield's life and health unit's individual plan was not covered by the parent company's contract with the Covered California exchange, which required it — and plans by rivals such as Kaiser Permanente, Anthem Blue Cross and Health Net — to cancel individual plans as of Dec. 31 that didn't meet all of the requirements of the Affordable Care Act.

Jones said the agreement could save consumers $28.6 million, depending on how many policyholders chose to stay with their existing Blue Shield individual coverage through March. But he acknowledged that some may prefer to choose Covered California options that are potentially eligible for federal premium subsidies.

Jones also took issue with Covered California's decision to force individual insurance providers to cancel existing coverage as of Dec. 31, a requirement that is written into the contracts that participating health insurers signed with the California Obamacare exchange.

"I disagree with health insurers' decision to cancel policies and Covered California's decision to require insurers selling in the Exchange to cancel existing policies on December 31," Jones said in Tuesday's statement, neatly eliding the fact that insurers had no choice but to cancel if they wanted to do business on the Covered California platform.

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